Supreme Court sends UW/VMC strategic alliance appeal to Court of Appeals

Published 2:25 pm Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The state Supreme Court has decided not to directly review the strategic alliance between Public Hospital District No. 1 and UW Medicine, instead transferring the case to the state Court of Appeals.

The alliance, approved 3-2 by the hospital district commission in May 2011, enhances medical services and brings new ones to the residents of the district, which continues to own Valley Medical Center.

But this spring the hospital district, with a new commission majority, asked for the Supreme Court’s direct review, after a King County Superior Court judge in December dismissed its lawsuit challenging the validity of the alliance.

“The decision by the Supreme Court to bypass the Court of Appeals is rare,” said Phil Talmadge, who represented the hospital district in Superior Court and in filing the appeal with the Supreme Court.

“The normal rule is for the Court of Appeals to hear an appeal,” he said. “We had hoped the Supreme Court might grant direct review, thereby shaving some time from the ultimate determination of the case.”

The Supreme Court based its decision on written briefs submitted by the legal teams representing UW Medicine and the hospital district.

Judicial rules spell out what Superior Court cases the Supreme Court may review directly, including one “involving a fundamental and urgent issue of broad public import which requires prompt and ultimate determination.”

Louis Peterson, a Seattle attorney who has acted as a special state attorney general for UW Medicine, said Tuesday the Supreme Court determined the case didn’t merit direct review. The hospital district had argued the case was “fundamental and urgent.”

The hospital district has always had the right to appeal the Superior Court decision to the Court of Appeals.

Talmadge said it’s likely the Court of Appeals will set a hearing date before year’s end.

“That court will review the trial-court’s decision just as the Supreme Court would have done,” he said.

The appeals court will issue a written ruling explaining its reasoning; the Supreme Court didn’t have to put in writing the reasons for its decision to transfer the case to the appeals court.

Either UW Medicine or the hospital district can appeal the lower court’s decision to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court “grants review of Court of Appeals decisions in less than 10 percent of the cases,” said Talmadge, who is a former Supreme Court justice and state legislator.